Albany
Albany is a semi-industrial town on the South Coast set against a beautiful harbour. The sheltered sound offers good diving in almost any weathers and there is an established dive business nearby. It is a popular weekend getaway spot and accommodation fills up quickly in summer.
While Perth locals find the water cold, it is actually only temperate, and the bay has some of the best temperate diving in Australia. Ring ahead to see what charters are on offer, as although the town will be teeming with tourists few are keen divers. Bring a couple of friends with you and the operator is much more likely to be willing to put the boat in the water.
Background
The story of Albany is really about its harbour, the reason why it was settled in the first place. It’s a natural wonderland of dazzling white sand, quiet bays and channels set among amazing granite landscapes. But it is also a major industrial port, with all the problems and benefits that are associated with heavy industry.
History
The local Menang Noongar people called this area Kinjarling, which means “The place of rain”. They occupied the land for many thousands of years. Their fish traps can still be seen in Oyster Harbour and their descendants still live in the area.
The first sign of change came when the Dutch ship, “Gulden Zeepaert”, or Golden Seahorse sailed by Captain Francois Thijssen charted the area in 1626, before exploring as far east as the Nuyts Archipelago in South Australia. No log survives. The principal evidence consists of contemporary maps, and brief references to the voyage. The area was so remote and mysterious that Jonathon Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” placed Lilliput on the southern Australian coast.
George Vancouver explored the South coast in 1791, naming Michaelmas Island, Breaksea Island, King George the Third Sound, Princes Royal Charlotte Harbour and Oyster Harbour. Captain Dennis of the whaler “Kingston”, and Captain Dickson aboard the “Elligood”, caught three whales there in August 1800. Matthew Flinders arrived in King George Sound in 1801, closely followed by Nicholas Baudin in 1803.
Albany was the first white settlement in West Australia, it was founded in 1826 when Major Edmond Lockyer arrived in the Brig “Amity”. As he arrived in the harbour he noticed a fire on Michaelmas Island. It turned out later that four Aboriginal men had been abandoned there by American whalers and had to be rescued. Soon after official settlement, some of the settlers set up bay whaling stations at a few sheltered beaches, mainly to the east of the town. Albany itself prospered from trade with these early whalers. Old whaling reached a peak around 1845 when there were approximately 300 whale ships (mostly American) and numerous shore stations operating along the South Coast of Australia. The numbers declined rapidly after 1859 when petroleum oil was discovered in Pennsylvania.
Whaling resumed in 1912 when a Norwegian company obtained a license from the Western Australian Government and operated from both Frenchman Bay near the current Historic Whaling Station site. They used steam whalechasers fitted with harpoon guns, but after a poor season in 1916 they left. There are a few older whaling shipwrecks in the area. A wooden barque, the “Fanny Nicholson” was being used as a whaling vessel when it ran ashore during a gale in 1872. The remains can still be seen in shallow water in Frenchman Bay. Another whaling barque, the “Runnymede”, met a similar fate when it ran aground during a storm in 1881.
Until the construction of Fremantle Harbour in 1897, King George Sound contained the only deep water port in Western Australia, and so was the favoured location for delivery of mail and supplies from abroad to Western Australia. Two later wrecks within the sound are the wooden barque “Athena” that sank in 1908, and the wooden boat “Elvie” that sank in 1923. Albany has a number of historical sites including the Museum, Albany Convict Gaol, The Princess Royal Fortress (commonly known as The Forts) and Patrick Taylor Cottage, one of the oldest dwellings in Western Australia, c.1832.
Natural environment
Albany sits on a large sound fringed with sandy beaches that are protected from the prevailing westerly winds. It provides the best anchorage on this often exposed South Coast. As well as the sound there are also a number of large enclosed bays that were, and in some places till are, packed with birdlife, seagrass and shellfish beds. Near the town, Oyster Harbour is a shallow basin. About half of the harbour has water less than 1 m deep. Shallows are found along the entire eastern side of the harbour. There are similar areas in the southwestern and north-western corners, making up about 40% of the harbour’s total area. Princess Royal Harbour is a deep basin bordered by shallow sandflats. About half of the harbour is less than 2 m deep. The shallow sandflats are most extensive off the western and southern shores and along the Vancouver Peninsula. Princes Royal Harbour has been dredged and has now become a major port, while Oyster Harbour is often filled with canoes and sailboats enjoying a day out on the water.
On my visits to Albany it has reminded me a little of Tasmania’s granite areas. Scorching hot when the sun is out (although cooler than Perth), giving it a Mediterranean look. Moments later, grey and brooding rain sodden clouds are brought in by strong westerly winds from the Indian Ocean. Jacket on, jacket off, jacket on, jacket off. It is a calm oasis in the relentless westerly storms that often batter the south coast in winter, and the easterly gales that tend to dominate in summer. These winds drive strong circulation of water in the sound, and even in the sheltered harbours. Up to 30 million m3 of water may enter or leave the main Harbour. The tidal range at Albany is small. West to north-west winds in Winter generate predominantly anti-clockwise circulation patterns in the bay and harbour. East to southeast winds in Summer reverse the circulation patterns.
Big Winter storms can create nasty waves and currents for the diver or boater, with 1 knot currents being recorded outside the sound even at depths of 40 metres. While there can be bad easterly winds they tend to be less energetic than the westerly winter storms.
The sound becomes a perfect habitat for migratory wading birds during the summer, when an estimated 2,000-3,000 birds flock to the area to feed in the shallow mudflats of the harbours. Southern right whales and humpback whales frequent the area between July and October when they congregate to mate and calve in the protected waters of the sound. Sperm whales were known to visit the sound during the whaling era, but none have been sighted recently.
Tourism
The most recent Whaling Station, which operated from 1955 to 1978, has been converted to a museum of whaling, and features one of the ‘Cheynes’ whale chasers that were used for whaling in Albany. The station was the last operating whaling station in the southern hemisphere and the English-speaking world at the time of closure.
Natural sights are also numerous, especially the rugged coastline, which includes the iconic sites at Natural Bridge and the Gap. The local beaches have pristine white sand.
Albany caters well for water activities with good boating, fishing and diving infrastructure. The destroyer HMAS “Perth” was sunk in King George Sound in 2001 as a dive wreck. The former whale chaser “Cheynes” was sold for scrap in 1961 and subsequently sunk between Michaelmas Island and the northern shoreline of the sound. There are lots of interesting dive sites, sheltered beaches, quiet coves and remote camping spots in the surrounding area.
Albany is also close to two low mountain ranges, the Porongurups and Stirling Ranges for nature strolls. Albany is the southern terminus of the long Bibbulmun Track walking trail.
From 1952 to 1978 whaling was a major source of income and employment for the local population. Albany’s main industries now are tourism, fishing, and agriculture (mainly bulk grain exports). In 2001, a new wood chip export terminal also enhanced forestry-related activity in the area. The Western Power Wind Farm is located at Sand Patch, to the west of Albany. The wind farm, originally commissioned in 2001 with 12 turbines, now has 18 turbines, driven by strong southerly winds, and can generate up to 80% of the city’s electricity usage.
Big ships loading grain serve our economic needs, but they also bring unwanted visitors. The pest seaweed, Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides arrived in 2008 from the northern hemisphere, with the potential to smother shellfish beds.
April 2019 News
Velvetfish
Red velvetfish (Gnathanacanthus goetzeei)
The red velvetfish is a relative of the scorpionfishes that is found in the inshore waters of western and southern Australia. Adults are usually reddish-orange with paler marbling and mottling. Juveniles have pale translucent skin with scattered bright reddish spots.
Instead of scales, its skin is covered with small and soft warty growths, hence its name. Its fins are large and spined. The dorsal-fin spines are venomous and can inflict an excruciatingly painful and long-lasting wound. The fish grows up to 30 cm in length.
It is the sole member of the family Gnathanacanthidae and genus Gnathanacanthus. That word translated as thorn jaw. The area beneath the eye has two spines which may be concealed by skin. This is called a lachrymal sabre and can project a switch-blade-like mechanism. The sabres glow fluorescent green. There is evidence that they are not tipped with venom and may be used in courtship behaviours in battles with other members of their species, like ram horns.
Red Velvetfish shelter on rocky reefs amongst kelp and macroalgae. It lives especially in deeper gutters and caves. Red Velvetfish are surprisingly well-camouflaged amongst kelp and other macroalgae and are rarely encountered by divers. In South Australia it is known to be associated with offshore red algal communities in 15-20 metres.
Red velvetfish are more active at night, when they hunt small fishes, shrimps, crab and octopus on the sea floor. In turn they get hunted and there is a record of being found in the stomach of a seal They may be relatively common in some areas, but I doubt that is based on any detailed survey. When reef monitoring studies are done they indicate that the population may have declined greatly over the past 20 years.
NEWS
Links to other stories
Tourist volunteers asked to do GBR monitoring
Drones used to conserve Windarra oyster Reef off Yorke Peninsula
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-29/wa-statewide-array-surveillance-wins-gecko-award/10437062
Proposed Sydney MPAs ending up a sham?
Species composition changing on the GBR after coral “cooked”
OLDER POSTS
Maritime Heritage Feature – Chinese Seamen in Australian Waters and the “Fido” Wreck
Some off site links to other stories
Weird invertebrate trawled from deep Russian waters
Port Augusta’s shopping trolley recovery operation in the news again for reasons that aren’t especially clear
Freak fatality in Tassie, man stabbed by stingray in shallow water
If that really scares you, Dr Peter ‘Scary’ Last puts it in to a proper context here
More protest about Tasmanian fish farm expansion
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-29/salmon-industry-approved-for-expansion-in-storm-bay/10442648
Tourist volunteers asked to do GBR monitoring